Glyn Philpot, R.A.

Commissioned by the Marquess of Crewe in 1917

An Inventory […] of Pictures at West Horsley Place, Surrey, The property of the Marquess of Crewe, 1938, p.9

Original canvas. The work undulates slightly. It appears slightly dirty and may benefit from a light clean - please note the blue is not as vibrant in person as the catalogue illustration suggests. Ultraviolet light reveals the artist has signed the work twice in the upper right corner, and has strengthened the signature visible now. Some areas fluoresce in the sitter's hair but these appear to be the workings of the artist. Held in a gilt composite frame.
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Margaret (Peggy) Crewe-Milnes was no stranger to portraiture and through her family connections had been painted by some of the leading artists of the Victorian age, including a portrait of her as a three year old in 1884 by Sir John Everett Millais. Her mother Hannah de Rothschild was painted by Lord Leighton, c.1880-1, and photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron, and thus the present work continues a tradition of significant family portraits. 

What is striking about the present work is the similarity of Margaret here, to her daughter Mary in the portrait by Sir Oswald Birley featured on the following page. Both have imposing stature and dark, good looks. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Marquess of Crewe should commission Glyn Philpot to paint his wife’s portrait, a modern artist who courted controversy for the sexual imagery of his later work. In this regard, the Marquess of Crewe followed in his father’s footsteps, Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, by supporting avant-garde artists. A poet and renowned patron of the arts in addition to his political career, 1st Baron Houghton was friendly with many of the leading - and bohemian - artists of his day, such as Edward Burne-Jones and Simeon Solomon who are also represented in the present collection.

Philpot himself was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites in his early career and his work swung between formal portraits of high society figures such as Loelia, Duchess of Westminster and The Marquess of Londonderry to the distinctive paintings inspired by mythology and the men he admired. In the present painting, Philpot brings out the strength of Margaret’s character in her sovereign pose, the bravura brushstrokes and dazzling blue.